Writing Through

Yesterday - day there of NaNoWriMo was quite a challenge. We had a family funeral and were out of the house for twelve hours. Real life can sometimes severely impact writing time.

But true to part of the theory of NaNoWriMo - which is just keep writing, worry about fixing it later - I wrote. And I got in the number of words I needed to stay on track. Not sure how good many of them are - but I can worry about that later.

Keep on Writing!

Still Writing

Day two of NaNoWriMo found us still writing. Well, my daughter and I posted some word counts, not sure if my son worked on his story or not today. That's okay though - no pressure - it's supposed to be fun.

I'm trying to get a bit ahead on my word count, knowing that there will be days when I won't have the chance to write. So far so good.

And I'm making a lot of headway in this re-write. So it's all good.

How Did Day One Go - NaNoWriMo

So, one day down. And how did we do?

Well, my daughter and I both got in over 3000 words. Which put us well ahead of the 1667 needed per day to make the 50,000 word goal.

Of course we also realize that there will be days we will not be able to meet our goals, so getting a bit ahead is not a bad thing at all.

My son got in over 700 words. He's doing NaNoWriMo through the Young Writer's Program and can set his own goal. He set a goal of 11,000 words, since he is almost 11. With that kind of a target he is write on track for meeting his goal.

Plus he has a lot of other things he likes to do when he is on the computer.

As for me, since the kids are home on fall break this week, I needed the headphones on so I could enter the cave state I need to write in. I used to be able to write with lots of distractions (ie in class in high school) but now it seems I need a bit more of a distraction free environment.

So, that's how Day 1 went. How about everyone else?

NaNoWriMo

Do you NaNo?

No, no, not "Nanu, Nanu" - we're not from Ork here.

National Novel Writing Month. The time when anyone can join up and let their inner novelist out!

Two years ago I joined for the first time and actually completed a 50,000 page novel in two weeks. I even impressed myself with that one. That story is still in the revision process (I've been working on other things at the same time).

Last year I participated and was all ready to win again. But got the swine flu at the beginning of November. My momentum messed up and the story idea I had not taking off meant that I didn't finish.

So, I'll try again this year. With a bit of a twist. I'm in the middle of a re-write that I really need to get done. So, I'm going to use that as my NaNo story. No, I'm not starting something completely new. But I will try to use the month to carry me through to the end of this revision. That is my plan.

My kids are both doing NaNoWriMo this year as well -using the Young Writer's Program. My daughter is also an official participant in the regular NaNoWriMo this year.

It's time to start writing.

I'll keep you posted!

Random Thoughts on a Thursday

Trying to keep up with NaNoWriMo has been a struggle this year. The story I'm working on is not flowing like the one I wrote last year at this time. But I'm meeting the daily goals and a story is getting formed. We'll see what I can do with it in revisions.

I think the big difference between the story idea this time and last time is that last time I knew where the story was headed. I wasn't sure how it was going to get there - but I knew in advance what the ending was, and I was simply working toward that. This year I started with a concept for the story in general- but I have no idea how it's going to end. Even 18,000 words in, I have no idea how it's going to end.

We're all healthy again here - with slight lingering tiredness and coughs - and I wonder if the illness we succumbed to was the dreaded H1N1 Flu? If it was it means I don't have to make a decision regarding vaccines for the kids... but how can I be sure? (I did say these were random thoughts.)

One very bright spot in my week so far was this sweet review at Enchanting YA. My favorite part?

WHEN MIKE KISSED EMMA is one of those romantic tales you want to curl up with and read.

And now it's time to face a Thursday!

NaNoWriMo Day Six

Catching up. I am only a day behind now. Of course it will soon be tomorrow and I'll be two days behind again, but I'm making progress.

Today's word count: 2049
Total: 8105

Of course, had I felt at all motivated to write for most of today I bet I could have gotten a lot more done.

On the upside - my house is cleaner than it's been in awhile. :)

NaNoWriMo Day Five

Am I missing a few days in here? Why yes, yes I am, thank you for noticing. We had a fever at our house this week, and everything else kind of got lost in the blur. This also made it very difficult to keep up with writing. I did actually get a little done each day. A very little.

As of right now I'm at 5,662 words. Which puts me about 3,000 words behind where I should be for today. Not great - but 2000 words above where I was yesterday - so progress is being made.

Sometimes real life gets in the way.

NaNoWriMo Day Two

Almost meeting goals.

That's what today was all about.

I had the goal to get to the grocery store. I didn't do it; but I will get there tomorrow.

I had the goal to do double the necessary daily word count of NaNoWriMo so that I could be all caught up with where I was supposed to be.

How'd I do? Not quite.

Total word count for today (and therefore my total since I did nothing yesterday) is 2792. Not the 3333 I needed to make my goal. But close enough.

I've discovered that goals are harder to meet when you have a cold. (I'm sure I'm not the first to discover this, and this probably isn't the first time I've realized it either.)

Now it's off to chug some cough syrup (not really, but I kind of feel like doing that) and get some sleep so I can meet those goals tomorrow (including the grocery shopping - and voting - don't forget to vote tomorrow.)

NaNoWriMo Day One

Progress report: 0 words.

Yeah. Not off to a rip-roaring start.

But... I did finish going through the last 30 pages of my WIP and made sure they at least made sense before sending it off to beta readers - so I did make some writing progress.

The evening was spent trying to get my incredibly stubborn son to eat his whole dinner. After two hours of that nonsense - the dinner was eaten - and any chance of me sitting down to write was pretty much gone.

I also need a name for my main character. Kind of hard to write without one.

1667

That's the number of words a person needs to write a day, in order to complete a 50,000 word novel in November. And why would a person want to do this? Why because it's National Novel Writing Month, of course. NaNoWriMo for those in the know. NaNo for short.

Last year was the first time I participated in NaNoWriMo and surprised myself by writing a 50,000 word story in two weeks. That story still needs editing (pretty much anything written that quickly is going to need editing.) So I'm going to try NaNoWriMo again this year. I don't know if I'll be able to keep up the pace, but I'll use this blog to keep track of how I'm doing.

Let's get ready to WRITE!